Early adolescence is now from 9 to 13, middle adolescence from 14 to 16, and late adolescence from 17 to 19. Young years are from 15 to 24. Garcha said: “At 10 to 13 years of age, we see a spike in the secondary sex. After 14 children begin to differentiate themselves from their parents and in a willingness to experiment with peers and the opposite sex. Relationships begin to form. By the age of 17 or 19, they have a distinct identity, well-formed opinions, and independent views.”
Keeping this in mind, adolescent education program has been started in the government schools of the district. Lessons on sex education and gender equality, apart from sensitizing children of classes VIII to XII about drug abuse, adolescent reproductive health and HIV-AIDS, will be provided in 533 middle, high and senior secondary schools in Ludhiana district. This program is about the physical, physiological, psychological, socio-cultural and interpersonal issues of reproductive health. This knowledge will give school children a proper understanding of the process of growing up and inculcate in them a healthy attitude towards sex, respect for the opposite sex and an awareness of responsible sexual behavior. This will help them to understand the implications of AIDS, the causes and consequences of HIV infection as well as the ways and means to prevent it.
A lobbying program was organized on Tuesday at the Government Senior Secondary Smart School on the campus of Punjab Agricultural University, in which Principal Garcha and Assistant Director of Youth Services Yadvinder Singh were resource persons. Deputy District Education Officer, Nodal Officer were present for this program. They will take their program to 5,057 schools in the state, where they will train one female and one male teacher from each campus.
Sushil Bhardwaj, State Project Coordinator (Science) and District Nodal Officer, said about the program that: “The time has come to make children aware of the issues which they cannot discuss freely with their parents. can. We have been sensitizing children through the online medium, but now offline activities like painting competition, role play and dance will be used to communicate the message. The State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) will share the schedule. Moga will be the first aspirational district to distribute this educational material among the students.
Assistant Nodal Officer Pradeep Chhabra said: “We will endeavor to channelize the energy of the students through interactive learning and life-skill learning.”
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